Oman India fund invests $23m in Annapurna Microfinance

AMPL will use the new capital to expand its microloan portfolio along with adding new asset classes, including loans to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and housing finance. The investment is part of a larger commitment by OIJIF to invest INR2 billion in AMPL, which is itself a component of a INR4 billion funding round expected to close by the middle of the year.

As a registered non-banking financial company (NBFC) and microfinance institution (MFI), AMPL focuses on providing micro loans to borrowers in rural India, particularly women, for income-generating activities. The company has a loan book of over INR20 billion, and serves more than 1.2 million borrowers across 14 states.

AMPL originated in the 1990s as Peoples Forum, a non-profit entity engaged in various development activities in India. Its microfinance activities began in 2005 and by 2009 had become the company’s main business line, resulting in its renaming; it registered as an NBFC in 2013.

According to AVCJ Research, the company has raised multiple rounds of funding from investors such as the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) and its venture arm Sidbi Venture Capital, Bamboo Capital, the Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries (BIO) and Incofin Investment Management, also based in Belgium.

OIJIF was created in 2010 by the State General Reserve Fund of Oman (SGRF) and the State Bank of India (SBI) in order to provide growth capital to middle-market companies in India. It also pursues buyout opportunities, particularly carve-outs from Indian conglomerates. OIJIF is investing its second fund, which reached a first close of $220 million last year. 

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• Topics
• South Asia
• Financials
• Expansion
• India
• Financial Services
• NBFCs
• Growth capital